Best Locally Made Beauty Products In Chicago

Chicago exported the idea of public art, disproportionately sized pizza and funny human beings (see Bill Murray, Tina Fey, Chris Farley, Seth Meyers, et. al), all of which make others happier than they were before. Now, we’re making people look better, too, with locally made beauty products. It seems our good works are never done.

FixMySkin 1% hydrocortisone lip and body balm is made in the Chicago suburb of Addison, Illinois. The huge seller and patented balm was invented by Joel Schlessinger MD, a Board-certified Dermatologist and Cosmetic Surgeon, and his son who is on his way to medical school. It not only makes your skin look and feel better, but the product treats chapped lips, dry skin, psoriasis, eczema and other dermatological issues. It is available in a tube for lips, as well as a body balm and a face balm.

Sparrow For Everyone was created by Chicago local Susan Flaga, who also co-owns Sparrow salon in Logan Square. The all natural skincare oil is created from a dozen botanicals (flowers, nuts and seeds) sourced from around the planet and has an array of uses including a cleanser, moisturizer, pre- and post-shave remedy, hair oil, bath oil, makeup remover and a de-winterizing skin product. It’s appropriate for men, women and children and it’s sold locally throughout Chicago as well as around the country. Skin oil is a hot beauty product now, so why not buy one that uses earth-grown elements, is free of man-made ingredients, offers natural healing capabilities and is Chicago born?

Available online and at all Ulta locations (which are also Chicago based), Amazing Cosmetics tells it all in its name: an amazing result from water-resistant, highly pigmented and natural-looking products. It all started with AmazingConcealer, which boasts 3.5 times the pigment than traditional concealers, so the tiniest dots of product completely cover a flaw. Professional make-up artists love the stuff including those on the sets of “Glee,” “Mad Men,” “Gossip Girl” and others.

EcoTools and Real Techniques (owned by the same company) are based in Gurnee, Illinois and are all about that brush. A leader in eco-conscious beauty care products, EcoTools are made with cruelty-free, innovative earth-conscious materials. The cosmetic brushes are exceptionally soft and have handles mad from bamboo. The line has expanded to lash products in a variety of lengths and styles and bath/spa items from deep cleaning facial sponges to eco-pumice smoothing stones. Real Techniques’ high-tech make-up brushes and video tutorials make you look like a Midwestern glamor puss in no time flat.

The punch line of many a joke, the now-famous Oprah episode where she gave away a car to everyone in her audience (“you get a car, and you get a car, and you get a car”), gave Big Girl Cosmetics’ Creative Director Kiley Russell her start. She sold the car and used the cash to establish Big Girl Cosmetics, that now offers an assortment of products from gentle cleansing milk to primer, foundation, blush, concealer, eye shadows and lipsticks that enhance the looks of women of all colors.

Jacky Runice has been a columnist with the Daily Herald Chicago since grunge music and flannel was the new black. Her fingers and gray matter have been busy as travel editor of Reunions Magazine; penning a column that was syndicated around the nation via Tribune Media Services. Her work can be found at Examiner.com.